18 Week Pregnancy Update

I feel as though the first trimester absolutely drug on forever and ever. Probably for two main reasons: 1) I felt terrible, and 2) very few people knew I was pregnant so I had to hide my excitement. But now that the second trimester is in full swing, things are definitely picking up in pace. We’re almost to the halfway point, which is just absolutely nuts.

It’s also a bit stressful since I keep being reminded of things we need to do, like find child care, find a pediatrician, paint the nursery, finish house projects, and the list goes on and on. Can I just win the lottery and hire somebody to do all of those things for me? Pretty please?

Any-who, let’s check out how the bump is growing and things are looking.

This week, baby is the size of a: sweet potato (which is pretty ironic since they are a major food aversion of mine right now).

Due date: July 13, 2017

Gender: Only God knows! Though I still think boy and Jeremy thinks girl.

Exercise: If prenatal yoga and 15-minute long walks to and from my parking lot at work each way count, then that’s what I’ve been doing. I’m not really into strenuous workouts because my body doesn’t appreciate them, so these work for me.

Maternity clothes: I haven’t been wearing any maternity clothing yet, but I generally have to leave my jeans and work pants unbuttoned because otherwise I’ll be majorly uncomfortable. I’ve also been living in leggings and tunic tops.

Belly button: Definitely still in. I have always had sort of an innie-outie combo belly button, so it’ll be interesting to see how it changes.

Sleep: Not super great this week because I’ve been sick for about two weeks now. I caught a nasty cold that then turned into terrible sinus symptoms, but I think I’m on the mend now. It turns out not being able to breathe out of your nose makes sleeping difficult. On the good nights, though, I’m averaging about 10 hours per night.

Food cravings/aversions: SO many aversions! Very little food sounds good right now, and if it involves cooking it myself then it sounds even worse. Let’s just say I have been eating out a lot more than I normally do. As far as the diet is concerned, I am still 100% gluten-free, but pretty much anything else goes right now. This past week it has been a lot of GF grilled cheese sandwiches from Nodo and homemade grassfed beef tacos.

Symptoms: Honestly not much of anything. I am still feeling nauseous on the rare occasion, but I’ll take that over constant nausea any day! Oh, and peeing A LOT!

Movement: There have been several times this week where I thought I felt baby, but I’m not 100% sure.

Labor signs: No, thank goodness!

What I miss: Craving healthy food and having the desire to cook.

What I’m loving: Having the majority of my morning sickness subside, getting a bump, and hearing the heartbeat at our latest appointment.

We have our anatomy scan this week which I am both excited and nervous for… but mostly excited!

Congratulations! I was the same way with my daughter, food aversions the whole pregnancy which made cooking and eating difficult. I will say it did get a little bit better around 25ish weeks, probably because I started to feel better as it warmed up and I could get fresh air more often. I hope you continue to feel great and that some of the aversions go away!